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[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] ([[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]], '''Kenny [=McCormick=]''') | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] ([[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] ([[Characters/SouthParkTheNewKid The New Kid]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] ([[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]], '''Kenny [=McCormick=]''') | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] ([[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] ([[Characters/SouthParkTheNewKid The New Kid]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]
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* GutturalGrowler: Kenny's usual, unmuffled voice is the highest pitched of the boys. As Mysterion, he masks it with a [[VocalDissonance deep]], raspy voice to hide his identity and sound intimidating.
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Per TRS.
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* GutturalGrowler: Kenny's usual, unmuffled voice is the highest pitched of the boys. As Mysterion, he masks it with a [[BadassBaritone deep]], raspy voice to hide his identity and sound intimidating.
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* GutturalGrowler: Kenny's usual, unmuffled voice is the highest pitched of the boys. As Mysterion, he masks it with a [[BadassBaritone [[VocalDissonance deep]], raspy voice to hide his identity and sound intimidating.
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Deleted line(s) 71 (click to see context) :
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
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* CosmicPlaything: The universe ''really'' hates him. Taken to extremes in "The List": Wendy and Bebe are fighting over a gun, then it accidentally discharges. Everyone in the vicinity checks themselves, and none have been shot. Cut to Kenny in his house miles away, where the bullet suddenly comes through the window and strikes him in the head. It may be due to the universe [[spoiler:not liking having the spawn of Cthulhu in it]].
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* CosmicPlaything: The universe ''really'' hates him. Taken to extremes in "The List": Wendy and Bebe are fighting over a gun, then it accidentally discharges. Everyone in the vicinity checks themselves, and none have been shot. Cut to Kenny in his house miles away, where the bullet suddenly comes through the window and strikes him in the head. It may be due to the universe [[spoiler:not liking having the spawn of Cthulhu in it]].
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* EnfanteTerrible: Becomes this in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" when he tries every method he can think of to stop his younger sibling from being born. [[spoiler: And then the newborn turns out to be ''another'' Kenny.]]
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* FallenOnHardTimesJob: Kenny takes up a menial job at City Wok in "The City Part of Town" since his parents are still unemployed. Lu Kim openly admits that he hired Kenny because he doesn't have to pay children as much.
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* InfantSiblingJealousy: In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", Kenny's parents are trying to have another baby and he doesn't like the idea of having to give up half his room for the baby or change its diapers. He tries to stop it from being conceived by hitting his dad in the groin with a baseball; when that doesn't work, he tries giving his mom a drink with abortion pills in it (which his dad drinks instead) and convinces her to go on a rollercoaster that's not for pregnant women. When that fails too, he starts chasing her around with a plunger and is killed when the ambulance taking her to the hospital runs him over. [[spoiler:Amusingly, given how his immortality works, she just ended up giving birth to another iteration of him.]]
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* {{Irony}}: Despite his status as TheChewToy, ''he'' is the one who got Butters injured with the shuriken in "Good Times with Weapons".
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* LimitedWardrobe: Rarely wears anything other than his orange jacket. "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" shows him even wearing it while in bed.
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* LimitedWardrobe: Rarely wears anything other than his orange jacket. "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" shows Several episodes show him even wearing it while in bed.bed. His newborn sibling/reincarnation was actually born wearing his orange hood.
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%% * MeaningfulName: Kenny means "born of fire". What do Kenny [=McCormick=] and the mythological phoenix [[BackFromTheDead have in common?]]
** As an adult Kenny grew a large bushy beard and wears a hat and sunglasses at all times.
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* TheQuietOne: He doesn't speak in several later episodes. He also doesn't talk as much as his close friends Stan, Kyle, and Cartman in the early seasons.
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* TheQuietOne: He doesn't speak in several later episodes. He also doesn't talk as much as his close friends Stan, Kyle, and Cartman in the early seasons. In the Post-COVID special Kenny is unable to get a single word in.
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* SophisticatedAsHell: As seen in "Going Native", Kenny's letter from Hawaii is a shining example:
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* SophisticatedAsHell: As seen in "Going Native", While he's typically a foulmouth like his friends, Kenny is capable of making profound statements, which are often left muffled and with the characters just giving generic agreements that give no hint to what he was actually saying.
** Kenny's letter from Hawaii in "Going Native" is a shining example:
** Kenny's letter from Hawaii in "Going Native" is a shining example:
** In his adulthood it's stated that Kenny's scientific aptitude has grown into SesquipedalianLoquaciousness, which makes him seem unintelligible to the layman.
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* SuperStrongChild: He's been shown to be pretty strong on quite a few occasions, especially as Mysterion. According to him in "The Fractured But Whole", he apparently works out.
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* SuperStrongChild: He's been shown to be pretty strong on quite a few occasions, especially as Mysterion. According to him in "The Fractured But Whole", he apparently works out. There's also a few BaitAndSwitch moments where he's able to survive incidents that would have killed him.
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* TheStoner: He doesn't have the "surfer accent", but Kenny has had an entire episode dedicated to him getting high on cat piss, and Cartman once mentioned that he enjoys getting high by paint-sniffing.
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* TheStoner: He doesn't have the "surfer accent", but Kenny has had an entire episode dedicated to him getting high on cat piss, and Cartman once mentioned that he enjoys getting high by paint-sniffing. He's also engaged in auto-erotic asphyxiation and inhaling opium directly out of poppies.
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* TrueCompanions: With Butters in "Going Native". Ironic considering their alter egos are Mysterion and Professor Chaos.
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* ClusterBleepBomb: A majority of his vulgar and/or profane dialogue is muffled and unintelligble due to his mouth being covered by his orange parka.
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* SirSwearsALot: One of the raunchiest of the kids. Just about a majority of his sentences include some form of swearing, though it's barely audible and difficult to hear due to his muffled voice. Interestingly enough, due to the fact that the word's use of hard consonants means it's more intelligible than most in Kenny's muffled voice and that he says it so much long-time viewers are used to hearing it, "fuck" is one of his ''most'' intelligible words.
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* SirSwearsALot: One of the raunchiest of the kids. Just about a majority of his sentences include some form of swearing, though it's barely audible and difficult to hear due to his muffled voice. Interestingly enough, due to the fact that the word's use of hard consonants means it's more intelligible than most in Kenny's muffled voice and that he says it so much long-time viewers are used to hearing it, "fuck" is one of his ''most'' intelligible words. Despite this, he doesn't curse every time nor in every episode since he's TheQuietOne.
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* BalefulPolymorph: Kenny is turned into a duck-billed platypus by Damien. The kids are only mildly impressed. He eventually gets shot by Jimbo and Ned just for being an animal.
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* ComedicUnderwearExposure: As Mysterion, [[UnderwearOfPower he wears his underwear on his costume]].
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* DoubleStandardViolenceChildOnAdult: Completely PlayedForLaughs, he chases his mother around the house with a plunger in "Cartman Joins the NAMBLA" to begin an abortion procedure on her.
* DreadfulMusician: Like seemingly every child in the Unites States, Kenny has no talent with the recorder. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with every other musical instrument he's been seen playing, which includes (among others) drums, bass, and zampoña. He's also a talented singer.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In the BigDamnMovie, he [[TheReveal drops his hood]] to his friends and says goodbye before setting the world back to the way it was and reviving all the dead.
* DreadfulMusician: Like seemingly every child in the Unites States, Kenny has no talent with the recorder. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with every other musical instrument he's been seen playing, which includes (among others) drums, bass, and zampoña. He's also a talented singer.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In the BigDamnMovie, he [[TheReveal drops his hood]] to his friends and says goodbye before setting the world back to the way it was and reviving all the dead.
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* DoubleStandardViolenceChildOnAdult: Completely PlayedForLaughs, PlayedForLaughs in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA". First he tries damaging his father's testicles before he can impregnate Kenny's mother, then when that doesn't work he chases his mother around the house with a plunger in "Cartman Joins the NAMBLA" to begin an abortion procedure on her.
* DreadfulMusician: Like seemingly every child in the Unites States, Kenny has no talent with the recorder. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with every other musical instrument he's been seen playing, which includes (among others) drums, bass, and zampoña.He's With some training he also becomes a talented singer.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In the BigDamnMovie,he Kenny [[TheReveal drops his hood]] to his friends and says goodbye to his friends before setting the world back to the way it was and reviving all the dead.
* DreadfulMusician: Like seemingly every child in the Unites States, Kenny has no talent with the recorder. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with every other musical instrument he's been seen playing, which includes (among others) drums, bass, and zampoña.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In the BigDamnMovie,
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* EnfanteTerrible: Becomes this in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" when he tries every method he can think of to stop his younger sibling from being born.
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* EnfanteTerrible: Becomes this in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" when he tries every method he can think of to stop his younger sibling from being born. [[spoiler: And then the newborn turns out to be ''another'' Kenny.]]
* ForcedTransformation: Kenny is turned into a duck-billed platypus by Damien. The kids are only mildly impressed. He eventually gets shot by Jimbo and Ned just for being an animal.
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* HeroAntagonist: In "Poor and Stupid". The episode focuses on [[VillainProtagonist Cartman]] trying to become a NASCAR driver and, in the process, starting to ruin the business's reputation. Kenny goes as far as to risk his own life to end this.
* HeroicSacrifice: He has died this way a few times, including at the end of TheMovie.
* HeroicSacrifice: He has died this way a few times, including at the end of TheMovie.
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* HeroAntagonist: In "Poor and Stupid". The episode focuses on [[VillainProtagonist Cartman]] trying to become a NASCAR driver and, in the process, starting to ruin the business's reputation. Kenny goes as far as to risk his own life to end this.
this. [[spoiler; Ironically, he doesn't get killed in this particular episode.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: He has died this way a few times, including at the end of TheMovie. Knowing that he'll come back to life might have something to do with his reasoning, though it causes him great pain each time.
* HeroicSacrifice: He has died this way a few times, including at the end of TheMovie. Knowing that he'll come back to life might have something to do with his reasoning, though it causes him great pain each time.
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* HollywoodGenetics: Kenny's blonde, even though his mother is a redhead, and his father has brown hair. It doesn't help that his siblings also have brown hair. It is possible that his father has a recessive blond gene, which would be dominant against the red hair of his mother.
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* HollywoodGenetics: Kenny's blonde, even though his mother is a redhead, redhead and his father has brown hair. It doesn't help that his siblings also have brown hair. It is possible that his father has a recessive blond gene, which would be dominant against the red hair of his mother.
* IronicName: "Kenneth" means "handsome", yet Kenny always keeps his face covered.
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* MeaningfulName: Kenny means "born of fire". What do Kenny [=McCormick=] and the mythological phoenix [[BackFromTheDead have in common?]]
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%% * MeaningfulName: Kenny means "born of fire". What do Kenny [=McCormick=] and the mythological phoenix [[BackFromTheDead have in common?]]
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* StayingAlive: No matter how many times he dies, he always comes back from his deaths.
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* StayingAlive: No matter how many times he dies, he always comes back from his deaths.deaths so he can die in another hilariously twisted manner.
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* TheyKilledKennyAgain: YouBastard But seriously, there's a reason why he's the {{Trope Namer|s}} for this trope. He dies in nearly every episode during the first five seasons. Thereafter, he's only killed sporadically.
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* TheyKilledKennyAgain: YouBastard But seriously, there's a reason why he's the {{Trope Namer|s}} for this trope.Namer|s}}. He dies in nearly every episode during the first five seasons. Thereafter, he's only killed sporadically.
** As an adult, Kenny has stopped muffling his voice, but he's stated to never communicate in layman's terms, which makes him a different kind of unintelligible.
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* TrueCompanions: With Butters in "Going Native".
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* TrueCompanions: With Butters in "Going Native". Ironic considering their alter egos are Mysterion and Professor Chaos.
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* ComedicUnderwearExposure: Mysterion [[UnderwearOfPower wears his underwear on the outside of his costume]].
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->''"All the time! I die all the time! And you assholes NEVER REMEMBER!"''
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-->--'''Kyle'''
* SophisticatedAsHell: As seen in "Going Native", Kenny's letter from Hawaii is a shining example:
->''To wit, I have found nothing wrong with this remote place, and I must admit it will be with some melancholy I will leave this island and return home. I saw this chick in a bikini on the beach too. She had the nicest boobs ever.''\\
''Humbly yours,''\\
''Kenneth.''
->''To wit, I have found nothing wrong with this remote place, and I must admit it will be with some melancholy I will leave this island and return home. I saw this chick in a bikini on the beach too. She had the nicest boobs ever.''\\
''Humbly yours,''\\
''Kenneth.''
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->''"I've experienced death countless times. Sometimes I see a bright light. Sometimes I see heaven. Or hell. But eventually, no matter what, I wake up in my bed, wearing my same old clothes. And the worst part? Nobody even remembers me dying. I go to school the next day, and everyone is just like, "Oh hey Kenny." Even if they had seen me get decapitated with their own eyes. You wanna whine about curses, Hindsight? You're talking to the wrong fucking cowboy."''
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->''"I've experienced death countless times. Sometimes I see a bright light. Sometimes I see heaven. Or hell. But eventually, no matter what, I wake up in my bed, wearing my same old clothes. And And the worst part? Nobody even remembers me dying. I go to school the next day, and everyone is just like, "Oh hey Kenny." Even if they had seen me get decapitated with their own eyes. You You wanna whine about curses, Hindsight? You're talking to the wrong fucking cowboy."''
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* WingedSoulDiesAtDeath: Kenny's reward at the end of TheMovie is that he's allowed into heaven, where he's given a halo and wings upon entry.
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* WingedSoulDiesAtDeath: WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath: Kenny's reward at the end of TheMovie is that he's allowed into heaven, where he's given a halo and wings upon entry.
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* CameBackWrong: Whenever Kenny is resurrected by means outside of his curse, his revival won't be a clean one. The first time he became Patient Zero in a zombie outbreak. The second time was when Cartman consumed his ashes, causing Kenny to be reborn in Cartman's mind until he was exorcised, causing his soul to possess a potroast that was then eaten by Creator/RobSchneider, who was soon killed off.
* CarpeDiem: Yes and no. Kenny's awareness of his immortality gives him the audacity to try things the other kids would be too timid to do. The downside is that Kenny feels the pain of every death.
* CensoredChildDeath: Averted for black comedy purposes, but played straight in "Kenny Dies" where his death is taken very seriously and happens offscreen, which causes Stan a lot of grief because he wasn't there to see Kenny off.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Kenny's deaths will always be as gory and horrifying as possible, with poor Kenny doing nothing at all to warrant such a fate.
* FallenOnHardTimesJob: Kenny takes up a menial job at City Wok in "The City Part of Town" since his parents are still unemployed. Lu Kim openly admits that he hired Kenny because he doesn't have to pay children as much.
* HorribleHousing: Kenny's house was originally a clubhouse that his and Kyle's fathers built in their childhood.
* MundaneLuxury: Having a dinner that wasn't prepared in a toaster. Kenny cries when he finds out that Cartman ate the skin off his KFC.
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* OnlySaneMan: In his family. He is also this in "The Coon Trilogy".
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* OnlySaneMan: In his family. He family, being that his parents are drunken louts and his brother is also this in "The Coon Trilogy".implied to be mentally handicapped.
* PovertyFood: Poptarts for dinner. Kenny gets defensive about this when Cartman says that girls find him repulsive for this.
* TooDesperateToBePicky: In "Fat Camp" Kenny agrees to do all sorts of disgusting things once the kids offer him money. Jesus calls him a prostitute for doing so and Kenny eventually sinks to performing sex acts.
* UndignifiedDeath: Kenny's deaths tend to be played for laughs, the one exception being his final appearance in Season 5, which lasted well into the next season.
* WingedSoulDiesAtDeath: Kenny's reward at the end of TheMovie is that he's allowed into heaven, where he's given a halo and wings upon entry.
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* CaptainErsatz: Mysterion is one for Batman in the Coon episodes. He has the black mask, dark cape and grey bodysuit (with a question mark theme a la the Riddler).
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* CaptainErsatz: Mysterion is one for Batman in the Coon episodes. He has the black mask, dark cape and grey bodysuit (with a question mark theme a la the Riddler). Ironic considering how Batman is a BadassNormal who uses his wealth to keep up with superheroes and supervillains while Mysterion is a TokenSuper that lives below the poverty line.
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* OnlySaneMan: Mysterion is the one member of Coon & Friends that's actually a superhuman and struggles to explain this to his friends who just assume he's really getting into the roleplay.
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* WorkingClassHero: Mysterion comes from the lower rungs of society, yet fights for justice. It's not hard to assume his poverty is what fueled his desire for justice.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/SouthPark Main Page]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys The Boys]] ([[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]], '''Kenny [=McCormick=]''') | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherStudents Other Students]] ([[Characters/SouthParkButtersStotch Butters Stotch]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsBigBads Big Bads]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsSecondaryAndMinor Secondary and Minor]], [[Characters/SouthParkAntagonistsJerksAndBullies Jerks and Bullies]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkFamilyMembers Family Members]] | [[Characters/SouthParkElementarySchoolStaff Elementary School Staff]] | [[Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth The Stick of Truth]] ([[Characters/SouthParkTheNewKid The New Kid]]) | [[Characters/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole The Fractured but Whole]] -] ]]
!Kenneth "Kenny" [=McCormick=]
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kenny-mccormick_5437.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:''"You never get upset when'' I ''die."''\\
[[labelnote:Click here to see him hoodieless]][[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/35e47c61da4f0a87e35fa681b5d553ba.png]][[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as an adult]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/263ef51e_d8e1_4318_a713_ec461d3a0e0a.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]]
->''"All the time! I die all the time! And you assholes NEVER REMEMBER!"''
->'''Voiced in English by:''' [[Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone Matt Stone]] (normal muffled voice, Mysterion, and ComicBook/IronMan costume), Creator/MikeJudge (''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut''), Eric Stough (unhooded), Creator/LexLang (adult narrator in "The Scoots")
->'''Voiced in French by:''' William Coryn
->'''Voiced in Japanese by:''' Creator/MitsuruOgata (WOWOW dub), Creator/YasuhiroMamiya (Fox Japan dub), Setsuji Sato (Netflix dub), Junko Katayama (''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'')
->'''Voiced in Latin American Spanish by:''' undubbed (Seasons 1-11 and 2007 redub), Orlando Noguera (Seasons 12-15 and 17b onwards, and all redubs since 2010), Diego Osorio (Season 16), Fabián Hernández (Season 17a), Yuri Rodríguez (unhooded in "The Jeffersons"), Larry Villanueva (as Mysterion in "The Coon"), Creator/IrwinDaayan (Mexican dub and Warner ''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' dub), Creator/VictorUgarte (Paramount ''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' dub)
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E1CartmanGetsAnAnalProbe Cartman Gets an Anal Probe]]"
An immortal, hedonistic, vulgar, but courageous and selfless boy that comes from a very poor family that often has to struggle to survive. [[TheyKilledKennyAgain He used to get killed off]] OncePerEpisode only to come back to life later, but that's not the case anymore... usually, since Parker and Stone were getting tired of killing him off in every episode and running out of original ways to kill him. He almost always speaks with a muffled voice, with various levels of intelligibility.
His role in Coon and Friends is Mysterion.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-G]]
* AlliterativeFamily: With his brother Kevin and sister Karen. His mother Carol's name is also pronounced with a hard "k" sound.
* AllMenArePerverts: One of the prominent young examples on the show. He's the most sexually knowledgeable of the boys and often fantasizes about the female body.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: He always has the habit of hiding almost his entire face except in his Parka even after we and his close friends already know what he looks like underneath as of [[WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut Bigger, Longer and Uncut]] as is the only character in the show to consistently die and be reborn again to the point where [[TheyKilledKennyAgain a trope was even named after him.]] [[spoiler:As of the Coon & Friends trilogy, it's generally accepted that Kenny is implied to be some sort of EldritchAbomination larva in human skin or ''is'' one due to him being able to do things humans aren't capable of, such as his ResurrectiveImmortality.]]
* AndIMustScream: Kenny dies again and again, only to wake up in bed absolutely fine. He remembers each and every one of his deaths, no matter how painful, and furthermore, no one remembers when he dies.
* AntiHero: Kenny has the most heroic personality of the four main kids, as evidenced by his {{heroic sacrifice}}s and general selflessness, though is also cynical to go with it. He has a lot of vices too, but not to the extremes of the others, and he doesn't deny them.
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Zig-zagged. Kenny isn't an innocent or weak child by any means and even serves the role as the leader as Mysterion. However, sometimes the other boys from the group would boss him around (like trying to forcefully pull out his remaining baby teeth in "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000") and Stan in particular seems to feel some BigBrotherInstinct towards him going as far as putting a coat on Kenny's back when they dressed him like Mr. Jefferson's son. The straightest example of this role is in "The Vaccination Special," when the other three boys treat him like a son and try to placate him with animated movies and ice cream while they discuss their crumbling friendship.
* BackFromTheDead: All the time. It's apparently his superpower.
* BalefulPolymorph: Kenny is turned into a duck-billed platypus by Damien. The kids are only mildly impressed. He eventually gets shot by Jimbo and Ned just for being an animal.
* BeingGoodSucks: When it comes down to it, he will do the right thing, but due to how his immortality works, no one remembers his {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Whilst Kenny is normally one of the more kind-hearted of the boys, that changes when you press one of his buttons.
* BigBrotherInstinct: You don't want to mess with Karen [=McCormick=]. Mysterion will come and kick your ass, [[WouldHitAGirl even if you are a girl]]. In "The City Part of Town", when his father screams at Karen to get a job if she wants stuff and she runs off in fear, he death stares his dad as he walks off to comfort her. At the end of the episode, Kenny gets her a new doll just to make her happy.
* BigOlEyebrows: His eyebrows are longer and thicker than most kids in the show.
* BornAgainImmortality: Every time he dies, his mother gives birth to a new Kenny, who ages into his current age overnight complete with all previous memories.
* BornUnlucky: His repeated, traumatic deaths are almost always PlayedForLaughs.
* BreakTheCutie: Played straight in TheMovie at first, where Kenny's fatal death sends him into the fiery pits of hell in which he suffers perpetual abuse at the hands of Satan. Thankfully, his fate ends when he realizes that Satan is a actually a [[AffablyEvil misunderstood nice guy]] who's suffering an abusive relationship with his boyfriend Saddam, which thereafter sends Kenny into Heaven like he initially desired.
* BrokenMasquerade: He's the only one (besides his parents) who knows/can remember that [[spoiler:he keeps dying]], and is aware of (and remembers) some of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that the cast encounters. [[spoiler:He also hates it when [[BreakTheBadass other people don't remember him dying.]]]]
* ButtMonkey: Kenny used to be the show's resident [=Chew Toy/Butt-Monkey=]. In much earlier seasons, he dies at the end of nearly every episode. It's lampshaded in the Thanksgiving short with Creator/JayLeno making a guest appearance. Not only was Kenny dying every episode, but he and his family were constantly mocked by the other characters because they were so poor. It was mostly Cartman who joked about it, but the others would always laugh along.
* CampStraight: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed.]] Kenny has definitely shown attraction to girls and does regular boy activities, yet he willingly dresses up as a princess during the Black Friday Trilogy.
* CatchPhrase: "Woo-hoo!", usually said when excited about something; it being sometimes sexual.
* CharacterDevelopment: He starts off as the most bland one of the four and merely a prop. Nowadays, he has a fully fleshed out character and even has a superhero alter-ego.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In early seasons, Kenny was nothing but a little pervert, a [[TheChewToy chew-toy]] of fate and a YesMan for many of Cartman's schemes. While bits of this is still present, since he's started dying less often he's become slightly more intelligible for regular viewers and with him disagreeing often to Cartman's more unpleasant schemes, it has since moved on to Butters. Once we learned that his superpower is real and not just a continuity reset, he's become slightly more virtuous, more assertive, and more respected by the boys themselves. He still doesn't like dying, though.
* CharacterTics: Pulling on the drawstrings of his hood when he's scared.
* TheChewToy: Kenny has been injured, beheaded, burned, shot, run over, etc. hundreds of times.
* ComedicUnderwearExposure: As Mysterion, [[UnderwearOfPower he wears his underwear on his costume]].
* CoolBigBro: This guy puts on his superhero alter-ego just to cheer his little sis up, and in "City Park of Town" used the money he's earned to buy Karen a new doll.
* CosmicPlaything: The universe ''really'' hates him. Taken to extremes in "The List": Wendy and Bebe are fighting over a gun, then it accidentally discharges. Everyone in the vicinity checks themselves, and none have been shot. Cut to Kenny in his house miles away, where the bullet suddenly comes through the window and strikes him in the head. It may be due to the universe [[spoiler:not liking having the spawn of Cthulhu in it]].
* CreepyChild: As Mysterion. Also is this if you consider his usual obscured face and quietness a bit on the creepy side.
* DemotedToExtra: After a few years of resurgence (especially with the Mysterion arc), he eventually ended up as [[LivingProp background decoration]] by Season 20, in which he had '''one line'''; even Annie and Red, living props in their own right, have more lines than him. In fact, Kenny had more prominence in '''Season 6''' (you know, the time when he stayed dead for a whole season) than he did in Season 20. He retains his spot in the opening credits over the much more prominent Butters and Randy, however. This trend was reversed again during Seasons 21 and 22, when he had as much screen time as the other three boys, multiple lines in many episodes, ADayInTheLimelight episode in "The Scoots", and his first deaths since Season 16.
* DieLaughing:
** In "Scott Tenorman Must Die" he died laughing at the embarrassing video of Cartman.
** During the EverybodyLaughsEnding of "Chickenpox", he suddenly stops laughing and dies, presumably of chickenpox.
* DirtyCoward: Happens often. When Kenny, along with the rest of his friends, does something wrong (or even think that they did), he usually tries to frame it on Butters. He can also be rather cowardly in life-threatening situations, even though he will always come back to life and he knows it. To be fair, as Kenny mentioned it, dying is painful and he is just a kid.
* DirtyKid: While the other kids suffer from PingPongNaivete, Kenny is dirty through and through!
* DoomMagnet: In addition to inadvertently dooming others along with his friends, he also attracts doom to himself, of course.
* DoubleStandardViolenceChildOnAdult: Completely PlayedForLaughs, he chases his mother around the house with a plunger in "Cartman Joins the NAMBLA" to begin an abortion procedure on her.
* DreadfulMusician: Like seemingly every child in the Unites States, Kenny has no talent with the recorder. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with every other musical instrument he's been seen playing, which includes (among others) drums, bass, and zampoña. He's also a talented singer.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In the BigDamnMovie, he [[TheReveal drops his hood]] to his friends and says goodbye before setting the world back to the way it was and reviving all the dead.
* DysfunctionalFamily: While most South Park families have their fair share of problems, his is one of the more stand out examples. His parents; while they have their moments, are alcoholic, drug addicts. [[DomesticAbuse They also tend to beat each other a lot]], are in [[PerpetualPoverty poverty]], and generally [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]]. This forces [[OnlySaneMan Kenny]] to be the [[PromotionToParent 'adult']] of his family sometimes, as he tries to make things more bearable for his siblings, especially his little [[MoralityPet sister]]. His older brother is implied to be a drunkard as well.
* EnfanteTerrible: Becomes this in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" when he tries every method he can think of to stop his younger sibling from being born.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: As "anime" Princess Kenny, he can apparently make men fall in love with his cuteness just by [[CutenessProximity being there]], though it's debatable whether the Sony Princess Box turns him into an actual girl.
* ExtremeOmnivore: There's a few times where he'd ingest things he shouldn't. The episode "Fat Camp" had him do this for money.
* TheFaceless: Downplayed. His eyes are visible but everything else is covered by his hood, except in certain episodes[[note]]TheMovie, "Good Times with Weapons", "The Losing Edge", "Meet the Jeffersons", and "Major Boobage". Also in "The Coon" and the "Coon and Friends" trilogy.[[/note]] His princess outfit in ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'' would apparently [[WhatCouldHaveBeen have been]] [[http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/thq/southpark/cov_225_l.jpg another example]], but was scrapped for the current design that puts the costume over his parka (most likely because the linked design would have made him unrecognizable and, due to the art style, [[WigDressAccent too much like an actual female]]). The times he's appeared without his hood on the show (following TheReveal from the movie) have all happened without any attention being drawn to it, to the point that it takes many viewers a little while to realize that the messy-haired blond kid is actually Kenny.
* {{Flanderization}}: Think about how poor he is or how he's ignored. His perverted nature has also been exaggerated, though granted this has arguably broadened his character as well.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GagPenis: Downplayed, but when we see [[MaleFrontalNudity his naked corpse]] in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'', 50 years old Kenny is shown to have a rather large penis.
* GoodIsNotSoft: He may be [[TheHedonist ready to pull out all the stops to get high or get laid]], but he's an honestly NiceGuy who cares about his friends, and when it comes to other people, he will do the right thing including being willing to die for people, and has executed a HeroicSacrifice on more than one occasion. But if he gets the chance to take revenge on some bastard who pissed him off or did the wrong thing (mostly Cartman), he will take it, and he will ''[[BigBrotherInstinct fuck up]]'' [[BigBrotherInstinct anyone who threatens his little sister]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:H-S]]
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: {{Subverted|Trope}}; see GoodIsNotSoft above. As Princess Kenny he even parodies this trope by using a blonde wig for the outfit, with golden-haired princesses being the most significant examples.
* TheHeart: "The South [=ParQ=] Vaccination Special" cements him as this for the four boys. It's shown that dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic for a year has caused the group to splinter and Kenny is only thing holding it together. Stan, Kyle, and Cartman are all reluctant to end their "broship" because they know how much it will hurt Kenny.
* TheHedonist: Kenny's ''far'' too interested in sex for his own good and will do ''anything'' to get high, probably because his immortality means it's impossible for him to suffer long-term consequences like [=STDs=] or brain damage.
* HeroAntagonist: In "Poor and Stupid". The episode focuses on [[VillainProtagonist Cartman]] trying to become a NASCAR driver and, in the process, starting to ruin the business's reputation. Kenny goes as far as to risk his own life to end this.
* HeroicSacrifice: He has died this way a few times, including at the end of TheMovie.
* HiddenDepths: Several episodes imply that underneath his crass and hedonistic personality, he's actually very intelligent and is capable of doing great things if he applies himself. The ''Post-COVID'' special confirms it, showing that 40 years in the future he becomes an award-winning scientist.
* HollywoodGenetics: Kenny's blonde, even though his mother is a redhead, and his father has brown hair. It doesn't help that his siblings also have brown hair. It is possible that his father has a recessive blond gene, which would be dominant against the red hair of his mother.
* HonoraryPrincess: In "A Song of Ass and Fire", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyILPbZWCSQ the Japanese make Kenny a princess.]]
* HumanizingTears: Kenny may be a foul-mouthed pervert, but the sight of him bursting into tears because Cartman deprived him of some KFC skins is a tragic reminder that he's still a dirt-poor child.
* HumanoidAbomination: The source of his immortality has something to do with the Cult of Cthulhu and R'lyeh.
* ImmortalityHurts: One of three major sources of pathos for him. The other two are the fact that no one remembers his many ''painful'' deaths, and the fact that [[CosmicPlaything it keeps happening]].
* InfantSiblingJealousy: In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", Kenny's parents are trying to have another baby and he doesn't like the idea of having to give up half his room for the baby or change its diapers. He tries to stop it from being conceived by hitting his dad in the groin with a baseball; when that doesn't work, he tries giving his mom a drink with abortion pills in it (which his dad drinks instead) and convinces her to go on a rollercoaster that's not for pregnant women. When that fails too, he starts chasing her around with a plunger and is killed when the ambulance taking her to the hospital runs him over. [[spoiler:Amusingly, given how his immortality works, she just ended up giving birth to another iteration of him.]]
* InTheHood: A defining example. Not counting his time as Mysterion, he's dropped his hood on less than 10 occasions, and when asked by a nurse while he was dying this one time why he insisted on wearing it, he only shrugged. His hood has also been suggested to attract bad luck to him, and although he has died without it, you really have to wonder why he's insistent on keeping it on.
* IntelligibleUnintelligible: His dialogue in early seasons is made up of muffled grunts, but the other characters respond as if they understand.
* {{Irony}}: Despite his status as TheChewToy, ''he'' is the one who got Butters injured with the shuriken in "Good Times with Weapons".
* JerkassBall: Much like Stan and Kyle, he'll have his moments of being mean-spirited when the situation calls for it. In "Good Times with Weapons" and "The Tale of Scrotie [=McBoogerballs=]", he willingly joins the others in throwing [[ButtMonkey Butters]] under the bus to avoid getting in trouble.
* {{Kawaiiko}}: Again as anime Princess Kenny. Apparently he's so cute that his cuteness is his ''superpower''.
* KidsAreCruel: Zigzagged. Despite often being as cynical and profane as the other boys, his heroism has not gone unnoticed -- by the audience at least. The characters are another story, which may well explains his "less-than-heroic" traits.
* KilledOffForReal:
** Subverted. In the episode "Kenny Dies", he is hospitalized, and nearly the entire episode is taken seriously (at least as seriously as South Park can be taken). He dies at the end of the episode and remains dead throughout the entire next season, showing up only as a ghost or in flashbacks.
** Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'', when [[spoiler:he dies from contracting COVID while using TimeTravel to stop the pandemic from happening in the first place, with no indication of resurrection this time]].
* KillTheCutie: The universe loves to break or kill him. And then bring him back again.
* LimitedWardrobe: Rarely wears anything other than his orange jacket. "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" shows him even wearing it while in bed.
* LivingProp: One of the reasons for his eventual replacement. He came back, though.
* LogicalWeakness: His ResurrectiveImmortality is due to [[spoiler:his parents being involved with the Cult of Cthulhu while his mother was pregnant with him]]. As a result, every time he dies, his mom gives birth to him again and he wakes up the next morning with his memories intact, having aged back to his current age overnight. [[spoiler:When he dies from Covid at the age of 50 in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'', his mother has long since hit menopause, preventing him from coming BackFromTheDead]].
* LonersAreFreaks: Recent seasons have begun portraying Kenny as an alleged loner, to the point where he was voted the most likely kid to shoot up the school alongside [[TheSociopath Cartman]] on account of being lonely and poor. This is something of an InformedFlaw and a gag based on Kenny being OutOfFocus in recent seasons; in practice his personality hasn't changed much, although his future self in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'' (both timelines) is the only one of the main kids to not be in a relationship nor have a ShipTease (though he's not at all depressed about it).
* LovableSexManiac: [[DirtyKid He's obsessed with the female body, reads porn magazines, and is sexually knowledgeable despite his age.]] One episode even medically 'diagnosed' him as a "Sex Addict", and he was the most nonchalant about it out of the boys diagnosed. He's also well received among the fandom on the "Lovable" part through [[NiceGuy his general selflessness,]] [[HeroicSacrifice his sacrifices,]] [[BigBrotherInstinct his bond with his little sister, Karen,]] and [[SuperpoweredAlterEgo his heroic alter-ego, Mysterion.]]
** Kenny's lines in the opening song tend to have the most sexually explicit lyrics that only get past the radar due to his muffled voice. Contrast that with Stan, Kyle and even Cartman having ridiculously wholesome lyrics.
* MauveShirt: Nowadays, he tends to only get killed off once a season or so.
* MeaningfulName: Kenny means "born of fire". What do Kenny [=McCormick=] and the mythological phoenix [[BackFromTheDead have in common?]]
* MessyHair: Of course, he is poor after all. That he constantly wears a hood only contributes to this further.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Any attention his parents actually do give the kids is often split between his delinquent old brother and emotional younger sister, leaving Kenny the odd one out. Best shown in "The Poor Kid" when Kenny just watches TV bored as his dad fights with his brother as his mom is tries to comfort his crying sister. Though he doesn't seem to mind not getting attention.
* MoralityPet: Kenny seems to be a student Mr. Garrison has a soft spot for, as he spoke a heartfelt eulogy for him in "Kenny Dies" and tried to feed him when he was off life-support in "Best Friends Forever".
** He also serves as one to Cartman on occasion. Unlike Kyle and Stan, who can at best hope for misguided CondescendingCompassion from Eric, Cartman genuinely seems to view Kenny as a friend (albeit one he mocks for being poor) and tries to be polite and nice to him; in "The Ring," he's the one who gently tells Kenny that his girlfriend Tammy has been with other guys, and in "The Scoots," he seems genuinely upset about breaking the news to Kenny about the latter not being able to join the boys in trick-or-treating that year. It's [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] with their roles as the Coon and Mysterion, who are [[ArchEnemy bitter rivals.]]
* MundaneUtility: If Kenny ever feels tired, he can just kill himself and wake up after a night of sleep.
* NeverBareheaded: Until the movie, his head was never seen without being covered by his parka.
* NiceGuy: Very much so. Kenny's usually the most light-hearted of the four boys and will go to almost any lengths to do the right thing, especially as [[SuperpoweredAlterEgo Mysterion]]. Despite this, he can be just as cynical and rude as the other boys if he needs to.
* NotAfraidToDie: Since he knows he will come back. However, it still really fucking hurts.
* OnlySaneMan: In his family. He is also this in "The Coon Trilogy".
* OutOfFocus: He gets the least amount of individual spotlight out of all of the four boys (and even some other regulars), especially after his RunningGag deaths were omitted. He tends to get ADayInTheLimelight at least OnceASeason to moderate it, and generally does a lot more from the "Coon and Friends" trilogy onwards. In recent seasons, however, his role has diminished again.
* PromotionToParent: Since his parents are neglectful, Kenny often finds himself having to be the "grown up" for his younger sister. He's also had to be the grown up for his own parents, scaring them with his Mysterion identity into being more responsible towards their kids.
* PutOnABus: His death in "Kenny Dies" had a permanent effect for the remainder of Season 5 and Season 6. He was "revived" and [[TheBusCameBack resumed his role]] in "Red Sleigh Down" onwards.
* TheQuietOne: He doesn't speak in several later episodes. He also doesn't talk as much as his close friends Stan, Kyle, and Cartman in the early seasons.
* RefugeInAudacity: Owing to being muffled, Kenny is able to say some truly profane things without setting off the censors. Turning on the subtitles in certain DVD regions or just listening very closely is enough to uncover what he's saying.
* RunningGag: [[TheyKilledKennyAgain His deaths]]. Originally OncePerEpisode, but have been downplayed more and more post Season 7. Many later episodes also tend to make elaborate gags about [[TheUnintelligible his voice]]. Another more subtle gag is that due to his economic status; he'll usually have a "poorer" version of whatever the other kids have, barring a few exceptions where he actually gets something rather expensive.
* SealedGoodInACan: Possessed Cartman's body after his ashes were consumed [[HalfArcSeason towards the end of the sixth season]].
* ShonenHair: {{Downplayed}}. He has spiky hair under the hood, but not an improbable hairstyle and it's more messy than spiky.
* SirSwearsALot: One of the raunchiest of the kids. Just about a majority of his sentences include some form of swearing, though it's barely audible and difficult to hear due to his muffled voice. Interestingly enough, due to the fact that the word's use of hard consonants means it's more intelligible than most in Kenny's muffled voice and that he says it so much long-time viewers are used to hearing it, "fuck" is one of his ''most'' intelligible words.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: At one point, his surname was spelled with a "K".
* StayingAlive: No matter how many times he dies, he always comes back from his deaths.
* SuperStrongChild: He's been shown to be pretty strong on quite a few occasions, especially as Mysterion. According to him in "The Fractured But Whole", he apparently works out.
* SympathyForTheDevil: It's mentioned in one episode that he's ''only'' friends with Cartman out of pity.
* TheSmartGuy: The "Post Covid" special (taking place 40 years in the future) shows that Kenny is fully capable of growing up to be this, his future self being a [[spoiler:Nobel Prize-winning scientist who is perfecting time travel while investigating the origins of COVID]].
* TheStoner: He doesn't have the "surfer accent", but Kenny has had an entire episode dedicated to him getting high on cat piss, and Cartman once mentioned that he enjoys getting high by paint-sniffing.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:T-W]]
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: YouBastard But seriously, there's a reason why he's the {{Trope Namer|s}} for this trope. He dies in nearly every episode during the first five seasons. Thereafter, he's only killed sporadically.
* TheUnintelligible:
** Usually Kenny's speech is muffled by his parka, allowing his dialogue to be far more profane than the other characters' at times. However, there have been a few occasions where he has taken off the hood and been able to speak intelligibly, such as the end of the movie, "The Jeffersons", and whenever he appears as Mysterion. Later episodes tend to get rather creative in using Kenny's voice unmuffled while still maintaining his ambiguity.
** A couple of episodes have people who've known Kenny for a while, such as Kyle, translating Kenny's mumblings for people who've just met him. People who've known Kenny for a long time can often learn to understand what he's saying, even including longtime viewers.
** Oddly enough, even though Kenny still wears his hood as "anime" Princess Kenny (complete with female wig), he can speak intelligible (but purposely mangled) GratuitousJapanese. "PURINSESU KENNI ASSISUTO!" Additionally, when Kenny dressed up as ComicBook/IronMan for Halloween, the mask simply added a metallic reverb to his voice rather than muffling it completely (the voice was provided by Matt Stone himself).
** If you watch certain episodes on DVD however, turning on English subtitles can provide translations to most of his dialogue.
* TrueCompanions: With Butters in "Going Native".
* {{Tuckerization}}: Kenny is named after a childhood friend of Trey Parker's, who was the poorest kid in the neighborhood, always wore an orange hoodie that muffled his speech, and would sometimes disappear for days at a time, leading the other kids to joke that he'd died.
* UndyingLoyalty: To his friends and his sister.
* UnexplainedAccent: Inverted. The rest of his family (sans Karen) have strong Southern twangs, but when unmasked, it's shown he lacks such accent.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: In early seasons, Kenny's deaths were treated as a normal occurrence to the point that the other characters are aware or weren't phased by them at times. [[BreakingtheFourthWall Certain episodes like "Cartman's Mom Is Still A Dirty Slut" and "Cartmanland" even make light of it.]] In "Cartman's Mom Is Still A Dirty Slut", Kenny simply appears out of thin air. Nobody even notices except Stan, who simply greets Kenny as if he'd just walked into the room. When he returns from his extended death in "Red Sleigh Down", the other boys again simply greet him as if he'd just walked up to them. However, [[RetCon from Season 7 onward and as of the Mysterion arc]], the only ones that can remember his deaths anymore are Kenny himself and his parents since they now cause a mind wipe to everyone else whenever he resurrects.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Decides to be a princess in the ''Game of Thrones'' episode trilogy and the game "The Stick of Truth". [[spoiler:Not so wholesome in the latter though, considering he betrays the group and ends up being the FinalBoss.]]
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Despite his hedonism and general lack of self-preservation instincts, Kenny is one of the most level headed characters in South Park when it comes to serious situations and is usually the one that the characters can trust with their life decisions. From the main boys he might have the most responsibilities of being an adult even when he is just a 9 year old boy.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: While Cartman has always mocked Kenny for how poor he is, in earlier seasons, Kyle and Stan were just as guilty of this. All three were also very dismissive of his well-being at times. This changed in the later seasons.
* WouldHitAGirl: If you mess with Karen [=McCormick=], Kenny will invoke this one. He's also seen beating up two girls in "Faith Hilling" from a rival group.
* WrongSideOfTheTracks: A rare literal example in "Quintuplets 2000", which depicts Kenny and Stan nearly being neighbors except for the railroad tracks between their houses.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mysterion]]
!!Mysterion
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mysterion_2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:''"I'm an angel keeping watch over the city at night. As violence and darkness take over the streets, I work to rid this city of crime. I'm the symbol this town needs."'']]
->''"I've experienced death countless times. Sometimes I see a bright light. Sometimes I see heaven. Or hell. But eventually, no matter what, I wake up in my bed, wearing my same old clothes. And the worst part? Nobody even remembers me dying. I go to school the next day, and everyone is just like, "Oh hey Kenny." Even if they had seen me get decapitated with their own eyes. You wanna whine about curses, Hindsight? You're talking to the wrong fucking cowboy."''
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/SouthParkS13E2TheCoon The Coon]]"
Kenny's heroic alter-ego.
----
* ArchnemesisDad: [[spoiler:He's the spawn of Cthulhu, whom he [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu called a pussy]].]]
* BadassAdorable: Mysterion is hardcore, and his entire story arc shows the true nature of Kenny's character. Yet he's only nine years old and [[UnderwearOfPower wears a regular pair of his underwear over his costume.]]
* BewareTheQuietOnes: Kenny, who is normally both TheQuietOne and TheUnintelligible, certainly qualifies as of the "Mysterion" story arc. He says the most he ever does during these few episodes, and his BerserkButton is revealed; do NOT mess with his little sister.
* BigDamnHeroes: Does this a couple of times, most notably in the Cthulhu trilogy and at the end of TheMovie. As of "The Poor Kid", he is this to his little sister.
* BigGood: As Mysterion, he's the unofficial leader of Coon And Friends, despite Cartman thinking that ''he's'' the leader.
* BlessedWithSuck: His super power is being unable to die, and people don't remember that he died. He does, however, and when Kyle remarks that being immortal would be cool, Kenny snaps that it's ''not'' cool, because he remembers every single one of his deaths and he remembers how much it fucking hurts.
-->'''Human Kite:''' What's the big deal? I mean, I think it'd be pretty cool not to be able to die.\\
'''Mysterion:''' '''PRETTY COOL?!''' Do you know what it feels like to be stabbed?! To be shot?! Decapitated?! Torn apart?! Burned?! Run over?!\\
'''Toolshed:''' Kenny, Kenny, calm down.\\
'''Mysterion:''' It's not ''"pretty cool"'', Kyle! It fuckin' '''HURTS!''' And it won't go away, and nobody will believe me! Remember this time! Try and fuckin' remember! ''[pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head]''
* CaptainErsatz: Mysterion is one for Batman in the Coon episodes. He has the black mask, dark cape and grey bodysuit (with a question mark theme a la the Riddler).
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Underneath his [[TheHedonist hedonistic]] exterior, Kenny is hardcore as Mysterion.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Mysterion wears black and talks in a (bad) [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Nolan Batman]]-like gravelly voice but is a legitimate superhero -- unlike [[VillainProtagonist the Coon]]. Notably, the Mysterion persona downplays Kenny's hedonistic and perverted qualities and rather shows another side of Kenny's character... [[BreakTheBadass His character's true nature.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Pretty much literally, when he yells at Cthulhu (essentially his biological father) to kill him. "Come on, Cthulhu! Kill me, you big pussy!"
* FaceOfAThug: Mysterion wears a constant scowl and his mask emphasizes his DeathGlare, but he's unambiguously heroic.
* GutturalGrowler: Kenny's usual, unmuffled voice is the highest pitched of the boys. As Mysterion, he masks it with a [[BadassBaritone deep]], raspy voice to hide his identity and sound intimidating.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Don't mess with his little sister Karen, or you ''will'' face the consequences.
* LovecraftianSuperpower: Played so straight that Mysterion may as well be the first "Lovecraftian superhero".
* NotSoStoic: He's introduced as being a lot more even-tempered than the Coon, but when his superpower is brought up, he completely loses it.
** Mysterion also elects to keep the name of the town's superhero team "Coon & Friends" even after ousting the Coon because he knows it will piss Cartman off, giggling as he explains this to the others.
* PerpetualFrowner: Mysterion rarely smiles as part of his tough guy persona.
* PrecisionFStrike: Upon learning that his parents were part of a cult, Mysterion lets out a "What the fuck?!" using Kenny's natural voice, which he's quick to correct. It's the first time in the series Kenny drops the F-word without being muffled.
* ScareEmStraight: Kenny uses his Mysterion identity to scare his parents into not getting high or fighting so much and being more responsible towards their kids.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When he's had enough, Mysterion will shoot himself in the head knowing he'll wake up the next day alive and well in his bedroom with his friends and family unable to remember what happened to him.
* SecondaryColorNemesis: Mysterion wears purple with green accents and is the enemy of [[NominalHero the Coon]], [[LaughablyEvil Professor Chaos]] and [[EldtritchAbomination Cthulhu]]. Subverted in that he's a heroic figure who just happens to invoke a sinister image.
* SourOutsideSadInside: As Mysterion, and even sometimes as himself, Kenny is the most dour of the four boys, only finding brief pleasure with his hedonistic behavior. That his immortality is never remembered by his friends is a source of deep angst for him that sometimes bubbles to the surface when provoked.
* StealthHiBye: Kenny is a master of this when he's dressed as Mysterion. It helps that he's typically out of focus.
* SuperPoweredAlterEgo: Mysterion definitely counts, as he's also shown to be SuperStrongChild at times.
* ThreePointLanding: His favourite method of entering a scene.
* TokenImmortal: After over a decade of being an implied superpower, Mysterion is revealed to be immortal in the "Coon and Friends" Trilogy. This takes the form of ResurrectiveImmortality where he never stays dead and nobody remembers him dying after his rebirth the next day. No explanation is given for why he stayed dead for so long in Season 6.
* TookALevelInBadass: As Mysterion, Kenny went from one of fiction's most (in)famous {{Butt Monkey}}s to the show's equivalent of Batman. While his fight with Professor Chaos (Butters) was a slap fight, he may have been holding back to not hurt him, as [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he easily beat up a larger bully to protect his sister]] later on.
* UnderwearOfPower: Parodied, [[ComedicUnderwearExposure as he wears a pair of plain white underwear over his otherwise dark superhero costume.]] Even when drawn in a badass manner, Mysterion is still shown wearing his whiteys on the outside.
* TheUnreveal: Mysterion is forced to go public with his true identity, unmasking himself before the entire town. Since he keeps his hood on, [[OnlySixFaces he looks just like the majority of able-bodied caucasian kids]]. Everyone in-universe is still able to recognize him though.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mysterion explains how horrible it is to die over and over again in disturbing detail.
[[/folder]]
----
!Kenneth "Kenny" [=McCormick=]
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kenny-mccormick_5437.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:''"You never get upset when'' I ''die."''\\
[[labelnote:Click here to see him hoodieless]][[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/35e47c61da4f0a87e35fa681b5d553ba.png]][[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as an adult]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/263ef51e_d8e1_4318_a713_ec461d3a0e0a.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]]
->''"All the time! I die all the time! And you assholes NEVER REMEMBER!"''
->'''Voiced in English by:''' [[Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone Matt Stone]] (normal muffled voice, Mysterion, and ComicBook/IronMan costume), Creator/MikeJudge (''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut''), Eric Stough (unhooded), Creator/LexLang (adult narrator in "The Scoots")
->'''Voiced in French by:''' William Coryn
->'''Voiced in Japanese by:''' Creator/MitsuruOgata (WOWOW dub), Creator/YasuhiroMamiya (Fox Japan dub), Setsuji Sato (Netflix dub), Junko Katayama (''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'')
->'''Voiced in Latin American Spanish by:''' undubbed (Seasons 1-11 and 2007 redub), Orlando Noguera (Seasons 12-15 and 17b onwards, and all redubs since 2010), Diego Osorio (Season 16), Fabián Hernández (Season 17a), Yuri Rodríguez (unhooded in "The Jeffersons"), Larry Villanueva (as Mysterion in "The Coon"), Creator/IrwinDaayan (Mexican dub and Warner ''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' dub), Creator/VictorUgarte (Paramount ''Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' dub)
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E1CartmanGetsAnAnalProbe Cartman Gets an Anal Probe]]"
An immortal, hedonistic, vulgar, but courageous and selfless boy that comes from a very poor family that often has to struggle to survive. [[TheyKilledKennyAgain He used to get killed off]] OncePerEpisode only to come back to life later, but that's not the case anymore... usually, since Parker and Stone were getting tired of killing him off in every episode and running out of original ways to kill him. He almost always speaks with a muffled voice, with various levels of intelligibility.
His role in Coon and Friends is Mysterion.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-G]]
* AlliterativeFamily: With his brother Kevin and sister Karen. His mother Carol's name is also pronounced with a hard "k" sound.
* AllMenArePerverts: One of the prominent young examples on the show. He's the most sexually knowledgeable of the boys and often fantasizes about the female body.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: He always has the habit of hiding almost his entire face except in his Parka even after we and his close friends already know what he looks like underneath as of [[WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut Bigger, Longer and Uncut]] as is the only character in the show to consistently die and be reborn again to the point where [[TheyKilledKennyAgain a trope was even named after him.]] [[spoiler:As of the Coon & Friends trilogy, it's generally accepted that Kenny is implied to be some sort of EldritchAbomination larva in human skin or ''is'' one due to him being able to do things humans aren't capable of, such as his ResurrectiveImmortality.]]
* AndIMustScream: Kenny dies again and again, only to wake up in bed absolutely fine. He remembers each and every one of his deaths, no matter how painful, and furthermore, no one remembers when he dies.
* AntiHero: Kenny has the most heroic personality of the four main kids, as evidenced by his {{heroic sacrifice}}s and general selflessness, though is also cynical to go with it. He has a lot of vices too, but not to the extremes of the others, and he doesn't deny them.
* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Zig-zagged. Kenny isn't an innocent or weak child by any means and even serves the role as the leader as Mysterion. However, sometimes the other boys from the group would boss him around (like trying to forcefully pull out his remaining baby teeth in "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000") and Stan in particular seems to feel some BigBrotherInstinct towards him going as far as putting a coat on Kenny's back when they dressed him like Mr. Jefferson's son. The straightest example of this role is in "The Vaccination Special," when the other three boys treat him like a son and try to placate him with animated movies and ice cream while they discuss their crumbling friendship.
* BackFromTheDead: All the time. It's apparently his superpower.
* BalefulPolymorph: Kenny is turned into a duck-billed platypus by Damien. The kids are only mildly impressed. He eventually gets shot by Jimbo and Ned just for being an animal.
* BeingGoodSucks: When it comes down to it, he will do the right thing, but due to how his immortality works, no one remembers his {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Whilst Kenny is normally one of the more kind-hearted of the boys, that changes when you press one of his buttons.
* BigBrotherInstinct: You don't want to mess with Karen [=McCormick=]. Mysterion will come and kick your ass, [[WouldHitAGirl even if you are a girl]]. In "The City Part of Town", when his father screams at Karen to get a job if she wants stuff and she runs off in fear, he death stares his dad as he walks off to comfort her. At the end of the episode, Kenny gets her a new doll just to make her happy.
* BigOlEyebrows: His eyebrows are longer and thicker than most kids in the show.
* BornAgainImmortality: Every time he dies, his mother gives birth to a new Kenny, who ages into his current age overnight complete with all previous memories.
* BornUnlucky: His repeated, traumatic deaths are almost always PlayedForLaughs.
* BreakTheCutie: Played straight in TheMovie at first, where Kenny's fatal death sends him into the fiery pits of hell in which he suffers perpetual abuse at the hands of Satan. Thankfully, his fate ends when he realizes that Satan is a actually a [[AffablyEvil misunderstood nice guy]] who's suffering an abusive relationship with his boyfriend Saddam, which thereafter sends Kenny into Heaven like he initially desired.
* BrokenMasquerade: He's the only one (besides his parents) who knows/can remember that [[spoiler:he keeps dying]], and is aware of (and remembers) some of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that the cast encounters. [[spoiler:He also hates it when [[BreakTheBadass other people don't remember him dying.]]]]
* ButtMonkey: Kenny used to be the show's resident [=Chew Toy/Butt-Monkey=]. In much earlier seasons, he dies at the end of nearly every episode. It's lampshaded in the Thanksgiving short with Creator/JayLeno making a guest appearance. Not only was Kenny dying every episode, but he and his family were constantly mocked by the other characters because they were so poor. It was mostly Cartman who joked about it, but the others would always laugh along.
* CampStraight: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed.]] Kenny has definitely shown attraction to girls and does regular boy activities, yet he willingly dresses up as a princess during the Black Friday Trilogy.
* CatchPhrase: "Woo-hoo!", usually said when excited about something; it being sometimes sexual.
* CharacterDevelopment: He starts off as the most bland one of the four and merely a prop. Nowadays, he has a fully fleshed out character and even has a superhero alter-ego.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In early seasons, Kenny was nothing but a little pervert, a [[TheChewToy chew-toy]] of fate and a YesMan for many of Cartman's schemes. While bits of this is still present, since he's started dying less often he's become slightly more intelligible for regular viewers and with him disagreeing often to Cartman's more unpleasant schemes, it has since moved on to Butters. Once we learned that his superpower is real and not just a continuity reset, he's become slightly more virtuous, more assertive, and more respected by the boys themselves. He still doesn't like dying, though.
* CharacterTics: Pulling on the drawstrings of his hood when he's scared.
* TheChewToy: Kenny has been injured, beheaded, burned, shot, run over, etc. hundreds of times.
* ComedicUnderwearExposure: As Mysterion, [[UnderwearOfPower he wears his underwear on his costume]].
* CoolBigBro: This guy puts on his superhero alter-ego just to cheer his little sis up, and in "City Park of Town" used the money he's earned to buy Karen a new doll.
* CosmicPlaything: The universe ''really'' hates him. Taken to extremes in "The List": Wendy and Bebe are fighting over a gun, then it accidentally discharges. Everyone in the vicinity checks themselves, and none have been shot. Cut to Kenny in his house miles away, where the bullet suddenly comes through the window and strikes him in the head. It may be due to the universe [[spoiler:not liking having the spawn of Cthulhu in it]].
* CreepyChild: As Mysterion. Also is this if you consider his usual obscured face and quietness a bit on the creepy side.
* DemotedToExtra: After a few years of resurgence (especially with the Mysterion arc), he eventually ended up as [[LivingProp background decoration]] by Season 20, in which he had '''one line'''; even Annie and Red, living props in their own right, have more lines than him. In fact, Kenny had more prominence in '''Season 6''' (you know, the time when he stayed dead for a whole season) than he did in Season 20. He retains his spot in the opening credits over the much more prominent Butters and Randy, however. This trend was reversed again during Seasons 21 and 22, when he had as much screen time as the other three boys, multiple lines in many episodes, ADayInTheLimelight episode in "The Scoots", and his first deaths since Season 16.
* DieLaughing:
** In "Scott Tenorman Must Die" he died laughing at the embarrassing video of Cartman.
** During the EverybodyLaughsEnding of "Chickenpox", he suddenly stops laughing and dies, presumably of chickenpox.
* DirtyCoward: Happens often. When Kenny, along with the rest of his friends, does something wrong (or even think that they did), he usually tries to frame it on Butters. He can also be rather cowardly in life-threatening situations, even though he will always come back to life and he knows it. To be fair, as Kenny mentioned it, dying is painful and he is just a kid.
* DirtyKid: While the other kids suffer from PingPongNaivete, Kenny is dirty through and through!
* DoomMagnet: In addition to inadvertently dooming others along with his friends, he also attracts doom to himself, of course.
* DoubleStandardViolenceChildOnAdult: Completely PlayedForLaughs, he chases his mother around the house with a plunger in "Cartman Joins the NAMBLA" to begin an abortion procedure on her.
* DreadfulMusician: Like seemingly every child in the Unites States, Kenny has no talent with the recorder. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with every other musical instrument he's been seen playing, which includes (among others) drums, bass, and zampoña. He's also a talented singer.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In the BigDamnMovie, he [[TheReveal drops his hood]] to his friends and says goodbye before setting the world back to the way it was and reviving all the dead.
* DysfunctionalFamily: While most South Park families have their fair share of problems, his is one of the more stand out examples. His parents; while they have their moments, are alcoholic, drug addicts. [[DomesticAbuse They also tend to beat each other a lot]], are in [[PerpetualPoverty poverty]], and generally [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]]. This forces [[OnlySaneMan Kenny]] to be the [[PromotionToParent 'adult']] of his family sometimes, as he tries to make things more bearable for his siblings, especially his little [[MoralityPet sister]]. His older brother is implied to be a drunkard as well.
* EnfanteTerrible: Becomes this in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" when he tries every method he can think of to stop his younger sibling from being born.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: As "anime" Princess Kenny, he can apparently make men fall in love with his cuteness just by [[CutenessProximity being there]], though it's debatable whether the Sony Princess Box turns him into an actual girl.
* ExtremeOmnivore: There's a few times where he'd ingest things he shouldn't. The episode "Fat Camp" had him do this for money.
* TheFaceless: Downplayed. His eyes are visible but everything else is covered by his hood, except in certain episodes[[note]]TheMovie, "Good Times with Weapons", "The Losing Edge", "Meet the Jeffersons", and "Major Boobage". Also in "The Coon" and the "Coon and Friends" trilogy.[[/note]] His princess outfit in ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'' would apparently [[WhatCouldHaveBeen have been]] [[http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/thq/southpark/cov_225_l.jpg another example]], but was scrapped for the current design that puts the costume over his parka (most likely because the linked design would have made him unrecognizable and, due to the art style, [[WigDressAccent too much like an actual female]]). The times he's appeared without his hood on the show (following TheReveal from the movie) have all happened without any attention being drawn to it, to the point that it takes many viewers a little while to realize that the messy-haired blond kid is actually Kenny.
* {{Flanderization}}: Think about how poor he is or how he's ignored. His perverted nature has also been exaggerated, though granted this has arguably broadened his character as well.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GagPenis: Downplayed, but when we see [[MaleFrontalNudity his naked corpse]] in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'', 50 years old Kenny is shown to have a rather large penis.
* GoodIsNotSoft: He may be [[TheHedonist ready to pull out all the stops to get high or get laid]], but he's an honestly NiceGuy who cares about his friends, and when it comes to other people, he will do the right thing including being willing to die for people, and has executed a HeroicSacrifice on more than one occasion. But if he gets the chance to take revenge on some bastard who pissed him off or did the wrong thing (mostly Cartman), he will take it, and he will ''[[BigBrotherInstinct fuck up]]'' [[BigBrotherInstinct anyone who threatens his little sister]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:H-S]]
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: {{Subverted|Trope}}; see GoodIsNotSoft above. As Princess Kenny he even parodies this trope by using a blonde wig for the outfit, with golden-haired princesses being the most significant examples.
* TheHeart: "The South [=ParQ=] Vaccination Special" cements him as this for the four boys. It's shown that dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic for a year has caused the group to splinter and Kenny is only thing holding it together. Stan, Kyle, and Cartman are all reluctant to end their "broship" because they know how much it will hurt Kenny.
* TheHedonist: Kenny's ''far'' too interested in sex for his own good and will do ''anything'' to get high, probably because his immortality means it's impossible for him to suffer long-term consequences like [=STDs=] or brain damage.
* HeroAntagonist: In "Poor and Stupid". The episode focuses on [[VillainProtagonist Cartman]] trying to become a NASCAR driver and, in the process, starting to ruin the business's reputation. Kenny goes as far as to risk his own life to end this.
* HeroicSacrifice: He has died this way a few times, including at the end of TheMovie.
* HiddenDepths: Several episodes imply that underneath his crass and hedonistic personality, he's actually very intelligent and is capable of doing great things if he applies himself. The ''Post-COVID'' special confirms it, showing that 40 years in the future he becomes an award-winning scientist.
* HollywoodGenetics: Kenny's blonde, even though his mother is a redhead, and his father has brown hair. It doesn't help that his siblings also have brown hair. It is possible that his father has a recessive blond gene, which would be dominant against the red hair of his mother.
* HonoraryPrincess: In "A Song of Ass and Fire", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyILPbZWCSQ the Japanese make Kenny a princess.]]
* HumanizingTears: Kenny may be a foul-mouthed pervert, but the sight of him bursting into tears because Cartman deprived him of some KFC skins is a tragic reminder that he's still a dirt-poor child.
* HumanoidAbomination: The source of his immortality has something to do with the Cult of Cthulhu and R'lyeh.
* ImmortalityHurts: One of three major sources of pathos for him. The other two are the fact that no one remembers his many ''painful'' deaths, and the fact that [[CosmicPlaything it keeps happening]].
* InfantSiblingJealousy: In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", Kenny's parents are trying to have another baby and he doesn't like the idea of having to give up half his room for the baby or change its diapers. He tries to stop it from being conceived by hitting his dad in the groin with a baseball; when that doesn't work, he tries giving his mom a drink with abortion pills in it (which his dad drinks instead) and convinces her to go on a rollercoaster that's not for pregnant women. When that fails too, he starts chasing her around with a plunger and is killed when the ambulance taking her to the hospital runs him over. [[spoiler:Amusingly, given how his immortality works, she just ended up giving birth to another iteration of him.]]
* InTheHood: A defining example. Not counting his time as Mysterion, he's dropped his hood on less than 10 occasions, and when asked by a nurse while he was dying this one time why he insisted on wearing it, he only shrugged. His hood has also been suggested to attract bad luck to him, and although he has died without it, you really have to wonder why he's insistent on keeping it on.
* IntelligibleUnintelligible: His dialogue in early seasons is made up of muffled grunts, but the other characters respond as if they understand.
* {{Irony}}: Despite his status as TheChewToy, ''he'' is the one who got Butters injured with the shuriken in "Good Times with Weapons".
* JerkassBall: Much like Stan and Kyle, he'll have his moments of being mean-spirited when the situation calls for it. In "Good Times with Weapons" and "The Tale of Scrotie [=McBoogerballs=]", he willingly joins the others in throwing [[ButtMonkey Butters]] under the bus to avoid getting in trouble.
* {{Kawaiiko}}: Again as anime Princess Kenny. Apparently he's so cute that his cuteness is his ''superpower''.
* KidsAreCruel: Zigzagged. Despite often being as cynical and profane as the other boys, his heroism has not gone unnoticed -- by the audience at least. The characters are another story, which may well explains his "less-than-heroic" traits.
* KilledOffForReal:
** Subverted. In the episode "Kenny Dies", he is hospitalized, and nearly the entire episode is taken seriously (at least as seriously as South Park can be taken). He dies at the end of the episode and remains dead throughout the entire next season, showing up only as a ghost or in flashbacks.
** Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'', when [[spoiler:he dies from contracting COVID while using TimeTravel to stop the pandemic from happening in the first place, with no indication of resurrection this time]].
* KillTheCutie: The universe loves to break or kill him. And then bring him back again.
* LimitedWardrobe: Rarely wears anything other than his orange jacket. "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" shows him even wearing it while in bed.
* LivingProp: One of the reasons for his eventual replacement. He came back, though.
* LogicalWeakness: His ResurrectiveImmortality is due to [[spoiler:his parents being involved with the Cult of Cthulhu while his mother was pregnant with him]]. As a result, every time he dies, his mom gives birth to him again and he wakes up the next morning with his memories intact, having aged back to his current age overnight. [[spoiler:When he dies from Covid at the age of 50 in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'', his mother has long since hit menopause, preventing him from coming BackFromTheDead]].
* LonersAreFreaks: Recent seasons have begun portraying Kenny as an alleged loner, to the point where he was voted the most likely kid to shoot up the school alongside [[TheSociopath Cartman]] on account of being lonely and poor. This is something of an InformedFlaw and a gag based on Kenny being OutOfFocus in recent seasons; in practice his personality hasn't changed much, although his future self in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'' (both timelines) is the only one of the main kids to not be in a relationship nor have a ShipTease (though he's not at all depressed about it).
* LovableSexManiac: [[DirtyKid He's obsessed with the female body, reads porn magazines, and is sexually knowledgeable despite his age.]] One episode even medically 'diagnosed' him as a "Sex Addict", and he was the most nonchalant about it out of the boys diagnosed. He's also well received among the fandom on the "Lovable" part through [[NiceGuy his general selflessness,]] [[HeroicSacrifice his sacrifices,]] [[BigBrotherInstinct his bond with his little sister, Karen,]] and [[SuperpoweredAlterEgo his heroic alter-ego, Mysterion.]]
** Kenny's lines in the opening song tend to have the most sexually explicit lyrics that only get past the radar due to his muffled voice. Contrast that with Stan, Kyle and even Cartman having ridiculously wholesome lyrics.
* MauveShirt: Nowadays, he tends to only get killed off once a season or so.
* MeaningfulName: Kenny means "born of fire". What do Kenny [=McCormick=] and the mythological phoenix [[BackFromTheDead have in common?]]
* MessyHair: Of course, he is poor after all. That he constantly wears a hood only contributes to this further.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Any attention his parents actually do give the kids is often split between his delinquent old brother and emotional younger sister, leaving Kenny the odd one out. Best shown in "The Poor Kid" when Kenny just watches TV bored as his dad fights with his brother as his mom is tries to comfort his crying sister. Though he doesn't seem to mind not getting attention.
* MoralityPet: Kenny seems to be a student Mr. Garrison has a soft spot for, as he spoke a heartfelt eulogy for him in "Kenny Dies" and tried to feed him when he was off life-support in "Best Friends Forever".
** He also serves as one to Cartman on occasion. Unlike Kyle and Stan, who can at best hope for misguided CondescendingCompassion from Eric, Cartman genuinely seems to view Kenny as a friend (albeit one he mocks for being poor) and tries to be polite and nice to him; in "The Ring," he's the one who gently tells Kenny that his girlfriend Tammy has been with other guys, and in "The Scoots," he seems genuinely upset about breaking the news to Kenny about the latter not being able to join the boys in trick-or-treating that year. It's [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] with their roles as the Coon and Mysterion, who are [[ArchEnemy bitter rivals.]]
* MundaneUtility: If Kenny ever feels tired, he can just kill himself and wake up after a night of sleep.
* NeverBareheaded: Until the movie, his head was never seen without being covered by his parka.
* NiceGuy: Very much so. Kenny's usually the most light-hearted of the four boys and will go to almost any lengths to do the right thing, especially as [[SuperpoweredAlterEgo Mysterion]]. Despite this, he can be just as cynical and rude as the other boys if he needs to.
* NotAfraidToDie: Since he knows he will come back. However, it still really fucking hurts.
* OnlySaneMan: In his family. He is also this in "The Coon Trilogy".
* OutOfFocus: He gets the least amount of individual spotlight out of all of the four boys (and even some other regulars), especially after his RunningGag deaths were omitted. He tends to get ADayInTheLimelight at least OnceASeason to moderate it, and generally does a lot more from the "Coon and Friends" trilogy onwards. In recent seasons, however, his role has diminished again.
* PromotionToParent: Since his parents are neglectful, Kenny often finds himself having to be the "grown up" for his younger sister. He's also had to be the grown up for his own parents, scaring them with his Mysterion identity into being more responsible towards their kids.
* PutOnABus: His death in "Kenny Dies" had a permanent effect for the remainder of Season 5 and Season 6. He was "revived" and [[TheBusCameBack resumed his role]] in "Red Sleigh Down" onwards.
* TheQuietOne: He doesn't speak in several later episodes. He also doesn't talk as much as his close friends Stan, Kyle, and Cartman in the early seasons.
* RefugeInAudacity: Owing to being muffled, Kenny is able to say some truly profane things without setting off the censors. Turning on the subtitles in certain DVD regions or just listening very closely is enough to uncover what he's saying.
* RunningGag: [[TheyKilledKennyAgain His deaths]]. Originally OncePerEpisode, but have been downplayed more and more post Season 7. Many later episodes also tend to make elaborate gags about [[TheUnintelligible his voice]]. Another more subtle gag is that due to his economic status; he'll usually have a "poorer" version of whatever the other kids have, barring a few exceptions where he actually gets something rather expensive.
* SealedGoodInACan: Possessed Cartman's body after his ashes were consumed [[HalfArcSeason towards the end of the sixth season]].
* ShonenHair: {{Downplayed}}. He has spiky hair under the hood, but not an improbable hairstyle and it's more messy than spiky.
* SirSwearsALot: One of the raunchiest of the kids. Just about a majority of his sentences include some form of swearing, though it's barely audible and difficult to hear due to his muffled voice. Interestingly enough, due to the fact that the word's use of hard consonants means it's more intelligible than most in Kenny's muffled voice and that he says it so much long-time viewers are used to hearing it, "fuck" is one of his ''most'' intelligible words.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: At one point, his surname was spelled with a "K".
* StayingAlive: No matter how many times he dies, he always comes back from his deaths.
* SuperStrongChild: He's been shown to be pretty strong on quite a few occasions, especially as Mysterion. According to him in "The Fractured But Whole", he apparently works out.
* SympathyForTheDevil: It's mentioned in one episode that he's ''only'' friends with Cartman out of pity.
* TheSmartGuy: The "Post Covid" special (taking place 40 years in the future) shows that Kenny is fully capable of growing up to be this, his future self being a [[spoiler:Nobel Prize-winning scientist who is perfecting time travel while investigating the origins of COVID]].
* TheStoner: He doesn't have the "surfer accent", but Kenny has had an entire episode dedicated to him getting high on cat piss, and Cartman once mentioned that he enjoys getting high by paint-sniffing.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:T-W]]
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: YouBastard But seriously, there's a reason why he's the {{Trope Namer|s}} for this trope. He dies in nearly every episode during the first five seasons. Thereafter, he's only killed sporadically.
* TheUnintelligible:
** Usually Kenny's speech is muffled by his parka, allowing his dialogue to be far more profane than the other characters' at times. However, there have been a few occasions where he has taken off the hood and been able to speak intelligibly, such as the end of the movie, "The Jeffersons", and whenever he appears as Mysterion. Later episodes tend to get rather creative in using Kenny's voice unmuffled while still maintaining his ambiguity.
** A couple of episodes have people who've known Kenny for a while, such as Kyle, translating Kenny's mumblings for people who've just met him. People who've known Kenny for a long time can often learn to understand what he's saying, even including longtime viewers.
** Oddly enough, even though Kenny still wears his hood as "anime" Princess Kenny (complete with female wig), he can speak intelligible (but purposely mangled) GratuitousJapanese. "PURINSESU KENNI ASSISUTO!" Additionally, when Kenny dressed up as ComicBook/IronMan for Halloween, the mask simply added a metallic reverb to his voice rather than muffling it completely (the voice was provided by Matt Stone himself).
** If you watch certain episodes on DVD however, turning on English subtitles can provide translations to most of his dialogue.
* TrueCompanions: With Butters in "Going Native".
* {{Tuckerization}}: Kenny is named after a childhood friend of Trey Parker's, who was the poorest kid in the neighborhood, always wore an orange hoodie that muffled his speech, and would sometimes disappear for days at a time, leading the other kids to joke that he'd died.
* UndyingLoyalty: To his friends and his sister.
* UnexplainedAccent: Inverted. The rest of his family (sans Karen) have strong Southern twangs, but when unmasked, it's shown he lacks such accent.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: In early seasons, Kenny's deaths were treated as a normal occurrence to the point that the other characters are aware or weren't phased by them at times. [[BreakingtheFourthWall Certain episodes like "Cartman's Mom Is Still A Dirty Slut" and "Cartmanland" even make light of it.]] In "Cartman's Mom Is Still A Dirty Slut", Kenny simply appears out of thin air. Nobody even notices except Stan, who simply greets Kenny as if he'd just walked into the room. When he returns from his extended death in "Red Sleigh Down", the other boys again simply greet him as if he'd just walked up to them. However, [[RetCon from Season 7 onward and as of the Mysterion arc]], the only ones that can remember his deaths anymore are Kenny himself and his parents since they now cause a mind wipe to everyone else whenever he resurrects.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Decides to be a princess in the ''Game of Thrones'' episode trilogy and the game "The Stick of Truth". [[spoiler:Not so wholesome in the latter though, considering he betrays the group and ends up being the FinalBoss.]]
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Despite his hedonism and general lack of self-preservation instincts, Kenny is one of the most level headed characters in South Park when it comes to serious situations and is usually the one that the characters can trust with their life decisions. From the main boys he might have the most responsibilities of being an adult even when he is just a 9 year old boy.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: While Cartman has always mocked Kenny for how poor he is, in earlier seasons, Kyle and Stan were just as guilty of this. All three were also very dismissive of his well-being at times. This changed in the later seasons.
* WouldHitAGirl: If you mess with Karen [=McCormick=], Kenny will invoke this one. He's also seen beating up two girls in "Faith Hilling" from a rival group.
* WrongSideOfTheTracks: A rare literal example in "Quintuplets 2000", which depicts Kenny and Stan nearly being neighbors except for the railroad tracks between their houses.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mysterion]]
!!Mysterion
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mysterion_2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:''"I'm an angel keeping watch over the city at night. As violence and darkness take over the streets, I work to rid this city of crime. I'm the symbol this town needs."'']]
->''"I've experienced death countless times. Sometimes I see a bright light. Sometimes I see heaven. Or hell. But eventually, no matter what, I wake up in my bed, wearing my same old clothes. And the worst part? Nobody even remembers me dying. I go to school the next day, and everyone is just like, "Oh hey Kenny." Even if they had seen me get decapitated with their own eyes. You wanna whine about curses, Hindsight? You're talking to the wrong fucking cowboy."''
->'''Debut:''' "[[Recap/SouthParkS13E2TheCoon The Coon]]"
Kenny's heroic alter-ego.
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* ArchnemesisDad: [[spoiler:He's the spawn of Cthulhu, whom he [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu called a pussy]].]]
* BadassAdorable: Mysterion is hardcore, and his entire story arc shows the true nature of Kenny's character. Yet he's only nine years old and [[UnderwearOfPower wears a regular pair of his underwear over his costume.]]
* BewareTheQuietOnes: Kenny, who is normally both TheQuietOne and TheUnintelligible, certainly qualifies as of the "Mysterion" story arc. He says the most he ever does during these few episodes, and his BerserkButton is revealed; do NOT mess with his little sister.
* BigDamnHeroes: Does this a couple of times, most notably in the Cthulhu trilogy and at the end of TheMovie. As of "The Poor Kid", he is this to his little sister.
* BigGood: As Mysterion, he's the unofficial leader of Coon And Friends, despite Cartman thinking that ''he's'' the leader.
* BlessedWithSuck: His super power is being unable to die, and people don't remember that he died. He does, however, and when Kyle remarks that being immortal would be cool, Kenny snaps that it's ''not'' cool, because he remembers every single one of his deaths and he remembers how much it fucking hurts.
-->'''Human Kite:''' What's the big deal? I mean, I think it'd be pretty cool not to be able to die.\\
'''Mysterion:''' '''PRETTY COOL?!''' Do you know what it feels like to be stabbed?! To be shot?! Decapitated?! Torn apart?! Burned?! Run over?!\\
'''Toolshed:''' Kenny, Kenny, calm down.\\
'''Mysterion:''' It's not ''"pretty cool"'', Kyle! It fuckin' '''HURTS!''' And it won't go away, and nobody will believe me! Remember this time! Try and fuckin' remember! ''[pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head]''
* CaptainErsatz: Mysterion is one for Batman in the Coon episodes. He has the black mask, dark cape and grey bodysuit (with a question mark theme a la the Riddler).
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Underneath his [[TheHedonist hedonistic]] exterior, Kenny is hardcore as Mysterion.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Mysterion wears black and talks in a (bad) [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Nolan Batman]]-like gravelly voice but is a legitimate superhero -- unlike [[VillainProtagonist the Coon]]. Notably, the Mysterion persona downplays Kenny's hedonistic and perverted qualities and rather shows another side of Kenny's character... [[BreakTheBadass His character's true nature.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Pretty much literally, when he yells at Cthulhu (essentially his biological father) to kill him. "Come on, Cthulhu! Kill me, you big pussy!"
* FaceOfAThug: Mysterion wears a constant scowl and his mask emphasizes his DeathGlare, but he's unambiguously heroic.
* GutturalGrowler: Kenny's usual, unmuffled voice is the highest pitched of the boys. As Mysterion, he masks it with a [[BadassBaritone deep]], raspy voice to hide his identity and sound intimidating.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: Don't mess with his little sister Karen, or you ''will'' face the consequences.
* LovecraftianSuperpower: Played so straight that Mysterion may as well be the first "Lovecraftian superhero".
* NotSoStoic: He's introduced as being a lot more even-tempered than the Coon, but when his superpower is brought up, he completely loses it.
** Mysterion also elects to keep the name of the town's superhero team "Coon & Friends" even after ousting the Coon because he knows it will piss Cartman off, giggling as he explains this to the others.
* PerpetualFrowner: Mysterion rarely smiles as part of his tough guy persona.
* PrecisionFStrike: Upon learning that his parents were part of a cult, Mysterion lets out a "What the fuck?!" using Kenny's natural voice, which he's quick to correct. It's the first time in the series Kenny drops the F-word without being muffled.
* ScareEmStraight: Kenny uses his Mysterion identity to scare his parents into not getting high or fighting so much and being more responsible towards their kids.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When he's had enough, Mysterion will shoot himself in the head knowing he'll wake up the next day alive and well in his bedroom with his friends and family unable to remember what happened to him.
* SecondaryColorNemesis: Mysterion wears purple with green accents and is the enemy of [[NominalHero the Coon]], [[LaughablyEvil Professor Chaos]] and [[EldtritchAbomination Cthulhu]]. Subverted in that he's a heroic figure who just happens to invoke a sinister image.
* SourOutsideSadInside: As Mysterion, and even sometimes as himself, Kenny is the most dour of the four boys, only finding brief pleasure with his hedonistic behavior. That his immortality is never remembered by his friends is a source of deep angst for him that sometimes bubbles to the surface when provoked.
* StealthHiBye: Kenny is a master of this when he's dressed as Mysterion. It helps that he's typically out of focus.
* SuperPoweredAlterEgo: Mysterion definitely counts, as he's also shown to be SuperStrongChild at times.
* ThreePointLanding: His favourite method of entering a scene.
* TokenImmortal: After over a decade of being an implied superpower, Mysterion is revealed to be immortal in the "Coon and Friends" Trilogy. This takes the form of ResurrectiveImmortality where he never stays dead and nobody remembers him dying after his rebirth the next day. No explanation is given for why he stayed dead for so long in Season 6.
* TookALevelInBadass: As Mysterion, Kenny went from one of fiction's most (in)famous {{Butt Monkey}}s to the show's equivalent of Batman. While his fight with Professor Chaos (Butters) was a slap fight, he may have been holding back to not hurt him, as [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he easily beat up a larger bully to protect his sister]] later on.
* UnderwearOfPower: Parodied, [[ComedicUnderwearExposure as he wears a pair of plain white underwear over his otherwise dark superhero costume.]] Even when drawn in a badass manner, Mysterion is still shown wearing his whiteys on the outside.
* TheUnreveal: Mysterion is forced to go public with his true identity, unmasking himself before the entire town. Since he keeps his hood on, [[OnlySixFaces he looks just like the majority of able-bodied caucasian kids]]. Everyone in-universe is still able to recognize him though.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mysterion explains how horrible it is to die over and over again in disturbing detail.
[[/folder]]
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